Schrader & Son

CONCORD — Malware has been around for a long time, and the computer industry has developed many good tools to combat it. However, today’s computer-based criminals are using a new technique: malware scams. In this instance, the malware itself isn’t the problem—it’s merely a decoy employed by scammers to scare people into providing access to their computers.

One way malware scams take place is by phone. You might receive a call from someone claiming they’re with Microsoft. They’ll typically tell you they’ve detected a problem with your computer and need to get access in order to fix it. In addition to gaining access to your information, scammers will usually offer to fix your (non-existent) computer problem for a fee. Read more

CONCORD — Host, Sarah Rutan: Malware is a genuine concern for any computer owner, but sometimes what appears to be a threat may simply be a cunning hoax. Today we’re in Concord with Diamond Certified Expert Contributor Don Schrader of Schrader & Son to learn more.

Diamond Certified Expert Contributor, Don Schrader: So, my tip today is — we’re going talk a little bit about malware and about those really annoying phone calls that you get from somebody that kind of claims that they’re Microsoft or they’re with Microsoft. And those are all a scam. If you get one of those, just hang up, please, because what they want is to access your computer, Read more

NOVATO — We all know we should floss our teeth every day, but we don’t always do it. The same goes for backing up our computer data: as important as it is, many of us either procrastinate or forget about it altogether. However, much like your teeth, if you aren’t proactive about maintaining your sensitive data, you put yourself at risk of losing it.

Data lives in a lot of places, from desktop and laptop hard drives to external drives to the cloud. Regardless of where your data lives, the important thing is that it lives in multiple locations—preferably at least three. Why? Devices can fail unexpectedly, and once your data is lost, Read more

Diamond Certified Expert Contributor, Mike Cobb: We all know we need to floss our teeth every day. But we don’t always do it. We need to also back up our data every day, but we don’t always think about it. So, what’s important? What is data? Data is what lives on your computer that you can’t live without or you don’t want to miss if it goes away. So, Read more

CAMPBELL — Host, Sarah Rutan: To avoid the heartbreak of lost personal documents and photos, you’ll need to take measures to protect the irreplaceable data on your computer. To learn more, we’re in Campbell with Jeremy Buschine of ClickAway, speaking on behalf of Diamond Certified Expert Contributor Rick Sutherland.

Jeremy Buschine: Hi, I’m here to talk to you today about avoiding technology heartbreak. The most common occurrence of technology heartbreak that I’ve seen is loss of data. Whether it’s personal documents, family photos, anything that’s really important to you that you can’t get back, this will cause technology heartbreak. How do you avoid that? Well, I’m going to tell you. Read more

CAMPBELL — Technology may enhance the quality of modern life, but it also has the power to break your heart. The most common occurrence of this “technology heartbreak” comes in the form of data loss. Whether it’s personal documents or family photos, when your precious data is lost, it can be a traumatic experience. Fortunately, there’s a simple step you can take to avoid this: back up your data.

When data only exists in one place, you have little recourse when it gets accidentally deleted, which is why the key to preventing data loss is to store it in multiple locations. Ideally, sensitive data should be backed up at three points: a local hard drive (a laptop or desktop), Read more